I've tried many Imperial lists seeking one of them to be happy with. Didn't really want to do the rush-crush play of Demolisher with Raiders, and I'm not a super fan of carriers. Medium-Large ships just disappoint and on paper there are too many weaknesses to too many things. I've put together and been fielding a list type for a while and it seems to work, so I thought i'd share for discussion. Part of the reason why is also because this could be one way forward for Imperial players now that our two strongest units took a significant hit (where the Rebels kept Yavaris, their CC aces...)

Battery-IV (389)

Most Wanted - Planetary Ion Cannon - Solor Corona.

Arq-CL // Slaved Turrets / Intel Officer / Vader

Arq-CL // Slaved Turrets / Intel Officer

Arq-CL // Slaved Turrets / Intel Officer

Gozanti Cruiser

Gozanti Cruiser

Fett
Dengar
Colonel Jendon
Zertik Strom
Captain Jonus
Black Squadron

Operation is simple. Deploy-delay with the Gozanti squadrons and fighters, then place the gunline in a way that will work. The fighter element is flexible enough to handle enemy fighters (at least to delay) while the Arqs navigate for two turns to get into position, then concentrate fire all the way down for maximum damage out of Vader. The only change the FAQ has done has been to move Vader from one of the flotillas to an ARQ.

One of the strengths of the list has been Jonus acting as a spotter plane for the Arquitens. Zertik and Black squadron can jump in front of any dangers trying to kill him, Dengar can make him escape, and Fett is there to extract revenge. The Fighter complement is a bit up in the air, just last night I took Jonus, Jendon, Zetrik, a Jumpmaster, and three TIE Advanced. All of that was a bit wasted against a list with only two squadrons and most of my damage came from the ship AA, but I imagine it would be good enough to hold off enemy squadrons long enough for Jonus to help the ARQs do their thing.

An earlier version had the Slaved turrets swapped for Enhanced Armament to enable the front arc for shooting at things like stations, or squadron shots. So far I haven't regretted the switch to Slaved Turrets, and it's allowed me to make the fighter group a little more flexible.

In a tournament this list has taken down Cactusman's double D list, and I've bagged a Liberty-Admonition list. The only list I lost to that day was a 3x TR-90 list with a Nebulon, two speed zero activation sink GR-75s, and a crap ton of fighters (6x Ys, 4 Zs, 4 As).

So far it appears promising, though I don't know yet how to take on a passive Rieekan aces list except to bid second and force them to play to my objectives.

I love Arquitens fleets, and I think this looks like a really strong variant!

Problem I have found playing multiple arquitens in a fairly decent number of games, and maybe you could sound off on since you have played it a fair amount too, is that I always want Vader AND Jerjerrod. The nav chart is restrictive unless you are constantly dialed to nav, or have Jerry. But if you take Jerry to get where you want to be, then you are having to take something for dice modification on each ship and hope the dice don't show up with multiple blanks. Vader has the opposite problem. His dice are more consistent, but his maneuvers are so unbelievably predictable, all your opponent has to do is draw a straight line forward from where you are and know that is where you will be. So is it Jerjerrod with Con Fire commands every turn, or Vader with Nav commands every turn. I don't know.

I'm also not a fan of Fett myself. Do you get his points worth in performance each game? If I feel the need to take an expensive ace I always feel like Vader and 5 points elsewhere is a better choice.

Agreed on the difficult decision with commander and arquitens.

I tend to go with Jerjerrod and Dual Turbolaser Turrets. Bank a maneuver token on turn 1 and then alternate between CF and Eng commands (to repair JJ damage).

I don't know if it's optimal. But it is what I'm accustomed to playing. I just can't manage the arquitens maneuver chart without JJ.

I find Arqs die quickly to Ackbar Defiance 80s. Arqs maneuvers are too limited to get away from an 80, especially when it has ET on it.

Why ST over DTT? Even if you CF at the correct time, double arcing yields the same amount of dice (3+1ST+1CF or 3+1CF+1Arc) but with one more reroll. You only lose your maximum damage but increase your average. It grants you 3 points and AA if you want.

I like Jonus and IO, but I wonder how effective your squads will be without your ships supporting them with AA. I tend to leave my squads quite close to my ships so I can support them with AA, or maneuver to overlap or obstruct shots.

I love the concept of an arc but always struggle with the same issue. Their damage output for points is just not high enough and having long range is all well and good until something fast like demo comes in and blows you up because of your predictable movement or something big like an ISD with gunner just flys through the red dice because it can soak it.

I run into the same problem that with jerry you don't do the damage to take down the big ships and with earth your movement is stupidly predictable. Also if you try and take darth he's just so **** expensive. If it's working for you that's brilliant. I wish I could pull it off

14 hours ago, BrobaFett said:

I love Arquitens fleets, and I think this looks like a really strong variant!

Problem I have found playing multiple arquitens in a fairly decent number of games, and maybe you could sound off on since you have played it a fair amount too, is that I always want Vader AND Jerjerrod. The nav chart is restrictive unless you are constantly dialed to nav, or have Jerry. But if you take Jerry to get where you want to be, then you are having to take something for dice modification on each ship and hope the dice don't show up with multiple blanks. Vader has the opposite problem. His dice are more consistent, but his maneuvers are so unbelievably predictable, all your opponent has to do is draw a straight line forward from where you are and know that is where you will be. So is it Jerjerrod with Con Fire commands every turn, or Vader with Nav commands every turn. I don't know.

I'm also not a fan of Fett myself. Do you get his points worth in performance each game? If I feel the need to take an expensive ace I always feel like Vader and 5 points elsewhere is a better choice.

So far I haven't missed Jerjerrod, but I do enjoy the dice control I'm getting out of Vader in this combination. I don't rank Jerjerrod as highly as the community does... he is useful, but not as useful as say... auto-critting or giving your ships extra hull. So far two navigate commands at the beginning of the turn has helped the ships either get into position, bank a speed command for later changes (down to speed 2), or both. Typically after that I'm doing concentrate fire and laying into a target with 5 dice that I get re-rolls with.

With this list I have five deployment drops to figure out where my enemy is before I place all three ARQs. Sure, they're predictable, but anyone approaching them is also likely to face 3x 5-dice attacks with control, and if Jonus is uninterrupted, an accuracy and an Intel officer with each shot.

Fett is useful for the one auto damage he can do. If I've blasted the shields off of a Victory Star Destroyer and it's trying to limp away, I can have Fett chase it and do auto-damage to destroy it. Same thing with any fighter that's trying to escape being shot at, or trying to knock down an ace. Fett's auto-damage and that he's rogue is why he's there.

12 hours ago, Undeadguy said:

I find Arqs die quickly to Ackbar Defiance 80s. Arqs maneuvers are too limited to get away from an 80, especially when it has ET on it.

Why ST over DTT? Even if you CF at the correct time, double arcing yields the same amount of dice (3+1ST+1CF or 3+1CF+1Arc) but with one more reroll. You only lose your maximum damage but increase your average. It grants you 3 points and AA if you want.

I like Jonus and IO, but I wonder how effective your squads will be without your ships supporting them with AA. I tend to leave my squads quite close to my ships so I can support them with AA, or maneuver to overlap or obstruct shots.

Against an MC80 it depends on what else is in the list. With as deep of a bid as I have I usually have the option of picking first or second. I can choose to go second and play hyper-defensively to force him to come close to me to score points, then hammer him on the approach. If he has enough ships to out-activate me I may decide to go first, just to get the first shots. I could keep my ARQs at speed 3 and try to run away, or force him to go through rocks. There's more situationally here that I can just keep making guesses.

But It is worth noting that the Ackbar MC80 has one shot against the three out of my ARQs. Between Jonus and Intel officers, that MC80 might not be able to use his brace, and it has no evade while my ARQs do.

ST is because I want to keep the extra dice. An earlier version was using Enhanced Armament to enable the rest of the attacks, but mythics suggested Slaved and so far I haven't regretted that decision. I'd rather maximize one large attack and exhaust one defense token then try splitting it with only one or two reds. Plus, it's easier to keep the ARQ's side arc on target with this chart than trying to double arc. *shrug*

Part of the reason for this fighter mix is to keep them self-sufficient to a degree. If AA is needed I think I'd keep the Gozantis closer to them instead of just relaying through Jendon the entire time. If I need AA it's somewhere between Dengar's counter, Zetrick's ability, and Jendon double-tapping and taking for Zetrick. With Fett there for damage dealing and auto-damage as well. Against fighters, this list is just out there to try tying up an enemy fighter ball without trying to win against it. But i haven't faced super carriers with this list, so I'm a little unclear how I would handle them.

4 hours ago, beefcake4000 said:

I love the concept of an arc but always struggle with the same issue. Their damage output for points is just not high enough and having long range is all well and good until something fast like demo comes in and blows you up because of your predictable movement or something big like an ISD with gunner just flys through the red dice because it can soak it.

I run into the same problem that with jerry you don't do the damage to take down the big ships and with earth your movement is stupidly predictable. Also if you try and take darth he's just so **** expensive. If it's working for you that's brilliant. I wish I could pull it off

These ships have taken down a Liberty and a rampaging Devestator, so Impirical evidence suggests it can work and it does. Against a Demolisher I'd first try to out-deploy it. Then I'd try sticking my Gozantis and fighters between it as a buffer between it and my ARQs (Or use obstacles to force the cover). If that didn't work I'd try blocking it with my Gozantis and killing it with fighters. But first player demo is also the reason why I have the objectives that I do.

Again, I'm not so worried about being predictable with the ARQs. Sure you know where I am, but approaching me means you're also flying into a storm of Red Dice that is cheaper to employ than Ackbar broadside lists, plus I control my dice a lot better than he does.